The Shocking Story of Sparky
by bodiechan
Summary: The shocking past of Experiment 221: Sparky is finally revealed.
1. Prologue

Prologue

Jumba Jookiba, evil scientist, had created 220 evil genetic mutants, each with a different destructive power. He was a large purple alien with four eyes, and he lived with his wife in a comfortable house on the planet Kweltikwan. His secret lab was only a little while away, floating in space, invisible to anyone besides him. And Jumba needed a break.

A break from Hämsterviel.

Dr. Jacques Von Hämsterviel was Jumba's employer. He had paid for the experiments (yes, all 220 of them) and was now ordering "an experiment that will make world leaders sick and disgustingly disgusting to everyone!"

But Jumba was on vacation, and had no thought to make the sick-enhancing Experiment 221 until much later.

And that's when he got the electric bill.


	2. Chapter One: Marriage and Electric Bills

Chapter One: Marriage and Electric Bills

"What have you been _doing_ in that studio of yours?" Jumba's wife, Malary, had seen the electric bill for 4567.829 Kweltecreds (which is quite a lot of money) and demanded that he pay for it—somehow.

"I—nothing to be of your concerning—have been experimenting—"

"Experimenting?" Malary asked quietly, yet furiously at the same time. "You call what you've been doing _experimenting_?"

"But it is," Jumba protested.

"Making monsters that run around the galaxy—the universe—the _house_—causing trouble is _not_ experimenting!" she shouted.

"I—but—how—" Jumba was at a loss for words.

"Jumba, if you're such a _genius_, then how come you didn't invent an experiment that's a—I don't know—a _vacuum_?"

"That is not _evil_," he said. But seeing the look on Malary's face, he added, "Wasn't 0-1-0 close enough?"

"No he was not!"

"Why being?"

"Oh I don't know—maybe because he _tried to kill us all_!" Malary retorted.

"Oh," said Jumba. Malary was pleased to see that he looked very pale.

"Or a _cooking_ experiment," she went on. "All the things I have to do around here to _feed_ your little monsters.…"

"Please," said Jumba, "we do not eat on Kweltikwan."

"Well, your experiments sure do!"

"What about 0-6-2?" asked Jumba.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I don't much fancy them turning into giant bowling balls every time they sit down to eat!" She was furious, letting out the anger she had kept bottled up for years. "Or an experiment that makes me younger.…"

"Experiment 1-5-1," said Jumba.

"I don't want to be _babyfied_!" she shouted.

"But those all were miiiinor errors in programming," said Jumba. "_Some_ turn-ed out right."

"What?" Malary demanded. "Which one of your deranged, snot-nosed _mistakes_ could _actually_ be _helpful_ to me?"

"P-please," Jumba stammered, "1—1-5-8."

"Well, I must admit, 1-5-8 _is_ quite the finding machine," Malary told him.

"Well, Jumba _is_ evil genius," Jumba chuckled.

Malary smiled. "Well, Mr. _Evil Genius_, if you're so smart, then find me a way to pay this electric bill."

"What?" asked Jumba incredulously. "You are meaning fake Kwelticreds? Is against _law_!"

"So is making those little _mistakes_," Malary said, grinning evilly. "If you don't find me a solution to our little problem by tomorrow evening, the mistakes—your experiments, I mean"—her eyes gleamed—"they go."

"W-where?" asked Jumba.

"Oh, just away," Malary said. "To experiment heaven." Jumba gasped. "Smish?"

Jumba sunk back into his chair. "S-smish," he said shakily, and they shook on it.


	3. Chapter Two: In the Lab

Chapter Two: In the Lab

Jumba paced back and forth in his lab, trying to find a way out of his hopeless situation. Paying their electric bill seemed impossible, and yet… he'd handled worse.…

A small, blue-gray experiment with a chef's hat attached to his head walked over to his creator. "Voulez-vous manger?" he asked, which is French for "Do you want to eat?"

"No," said Jumba very firmly.

"But—"

"0-6-2, Jumba is having trouble with wife now and does not want you interfering," he replied.

062 frowned. "S'il vous plaît?" he asked, which means, "Please?" in French.

"No!" said Jumba.

"Oh…," said 062, disappointed.

A tall pink experiment wearing a tiny straw hat smiled at Jumba and began talking to him very fast. "Well if your havin' troubles with ya Malary, that is, I could always sell 'er and then—"

"No," said Jumba.

"C'mon, if you just—"

Jumba glared at him. "Not now, 0-2-0."

020 glared back at him.

"Why don't you just _steal_ the Kwelticreds?" a tall, yellow experiment with one mechanical arm asked Jumba.

"Quiet!" hissed his partner, a green experiment with a marking like a v on her head and short antennae. She elbowed him in the ribs.

"Jumba must not break laws of Kweltikwan even further than already done," Jumba told them, "even though you are wanting to, 1-4-9 and 1-5-0."

150, the yellow one, said, "But I was just—"

"_Quiet!_" repeated 149. "Don't ya see, 1-5-0, Jumba the creator doesn't want our skills."

"Is not _that_," said Jumba. "Jumba is just not wanting to—"

"Yeah, yeah, we heard," said 149.

"Why don't you just blame Naughty?" 150 suggested.

"Who of which are you talking?" asked Jumba.

"Experiment 2-2-0," said 149. "He's been nicknamed Naughty by us experiments. I think I disagreeistant's"—("I'm not your _assistant_!" said 150.)—"right. You should blame Naughty for the bill."

"2-2-0?" asked Jumba incredulously. "Naughty?"

"I hate that name," said 220 quietly. Everyone turned to face him; he had been sitting in the corner of the lab and no one had noticed him. He was a small, shy turquoise experiment with big ears and eyes. Jumba had made him to be blamed for everything that his creator did wrong, and he couldn't defend himself then. But he was free to speak his mind now… only he was too shy to say much.

"2-2-0!" Jumba said. "There you are being! What is all this 'Naughty' business?"

"I hate that name," Naughty repeated, and everyone looked at him again. "The others call me it… think it's a joke. I get blamed for doing nothing, ever, ever." He stood up, his hands into fists. The others gaped at him. "The others are just terrible. B-blame them… for once… please, Jumba. _Please_… I never do anything—anything wrong."

"Well," said 149, as if Naughty had never spoken, "that's settled then."

"What's settled?" asked 150 (he was a bit slow).

"That Jumba'll blame Naughty, o' course!"

Naughty glared at her. "You think…," he said slowly, "you think the name's insulting… but I—I know better.… A name… is a—a compliment. A compliment to the named one!" he shouted. "A compliment… to the named one."

For a moment, the silence was only broken by nothing. Then 150 muttered under his breath, "Crazy."

"Il est fou," 062 agreed; "he's crazy" in French.

"If being un-crazy was money, then we couldn' sell Naughty here for half a Kwelticred!" 020 chimed in, laughing.

"He's _completely loco_," added 149, and there was a murmur of agreement from the others. "Lost his marbles when he was made, that one did. I'd watch out for him if were you, Jumba."

"Yeah," the others agreed.

"I'm not.… I'm not crazy.… Am—am I?" stuttered Naughty, turning to Jumba. "Am—am I?"

To everyone's surprise, Jumba chuckled. "No!" he said. "You are being right!"

"Then, if names are so good," 149 retorted, who was determined to make 220 look bad, "why didn't you name all of us?"

"Well, he obviously didn't have the time to make up all those names!" said 020, who never had time for anything.

"No, not 2-2-0 names," said Jumba, "just one."

"I want a name!" moaned 149.

"Me too!" chimed in 150.

"I'll pay ya 30 Kwelticreds for one!" offered 020.

"Oui! Oui!" cried 062, jumping into the air, one of his six arms raised high above his head.

Jumba chuckled again. "All right...1-4-9 can be 'Bandit,'"—("_Yeeessss!_" cheered 149.)—"1-5-0 shall be 'Thief,'"—("Aw," said 150, "why can't I be Bandit?" "'Cause I am!" said 149.)—"'Chef' can be the name of 0-6-2,"—("Magnifique!" said 062.)—"and 020 shall be known as 'Seller.'"

"_Seller?_" shouted 020. "I'll give ya—"

Jumba laughed. "Fine, your name is now 'Salesman.'"

"Now 'Salesman' I like!" said 020.

Bandit laughed. "You like it 'cause it implies that you're a man—"

"—which you're _obviously_ not," Thief finished.

Chef laughed.

"_Hey!_" shouted Salesman.

"Well, you're not," said Thief.

"Vrai, vrai," said Chef, which is "true, true" in French

"Now, see here," said Bandit, "we're not s'posed to be talkin' 'bout our new names. We're s'posed to be talkin' 'bout how Jumba here can pay his electric bill!"

"Why don't you just make an electric-bill-paying experiment?" said Thief.

Chef sighed. "Cela contrefait," he said, "et contrefaire est mauvais." Which means, "that's counterfeiting, and counterfeiting is bad" in French.

"Oh," said Thief.

"What if ya just didn' pay the bill?" asked Salesman.

"They'd shut off all of Jumba's electricity," said Jumba gloomily. "No more experiments then."

"What about an electricity-making experiment?" Thief suggested.

"No… wait!" said Jumba. "Electricity experiment… evil genius Jumba likes this idea! Thief is genius!"

Thief blushed and muttered, "Well, I don't know about _genius_," but Bandit said, "He is?"

"Of course! Is brilliant idea!" Jumba shouted, running up to his computer. "Jumba will make an electricity experiment! Then no more paying of the bills!"

The experiments started dancing around.

"Wait," said Bandit, "this new Experiment 2-2-1's gonna have a name, right?"

"Electra?" Chef suggested.

"Works for me," said Salesman.

"All experiments who are in favor of naming the new experiment 2-2-1 Electra?" Jumba asked.

And all the experiments raised their hands—even little Naughty.


	4. Chapter Three: A New Experiment

Chapter Three: A New Experiment

All night, and all of the next day, the experiments were forbidden from entering Jumba's lab. "I am needing _complete concentration_," he told Bandit exasperatedly, when she attempted to break in for about the fiftieth time. "I have never been having to make an experiment so fast before."

"Wait—this Electra's gonna be a girl, right?" she inquired.

"Why is it mattering?" Jumba asked, returning to his work.

"'Cause Electra's a girl's name o' course!"

Jumba sighed. "1-4-9, please be leaving Jumba alone."

"Who's 1-4-9?" teased Bandit.

Jumba sighed again. "Evil genius Jumba is almost giving up," he said. "Bandit, be leaving now."

"Why—"

"_NOW!_"

"All right, all right! Sheesh," Bandit muttered, and left Jumba alone with his work.

--

"Makata gigibee…," said Jumba, which means "checked wiring" in Kweltikwan. "Makata experiment parts…. Makata to make experiment female for 1-4-9.…"

It was ready.

All 220 experiments were gathered around Jumba's Jumbatron, the experiment-making machine.

"I hope it's a girl…," 177, who eats hair, whispered to 158, the finding machine. "Jumba made too many boy experiments."

"Don' worry, Cut," said Bandit, "it will be. Jumba told me himself."

"Cut?" asked 177.

"Your name," said Bandit. "Mine's 'Bandit.' Yours is 'Cut.'"

"Oh," said Cut. "Oh, oh!—1-5-8 can be 'Sherlock.'"

"Sherlock?" asked 158.

"After Sherlock Holmes," said Cut promptly.

158 gave her a blank look.

"You know, Sherlock Holmes? The detective?" said Cut. She sighed. "It's a classic book from Ee-arth."

158 continued to stare.

"You read too much," said Bandit after a pause. "But Sherlock it is."

Sherlock made a high-pitched noise from somewhere inside his long, red snout. Cut laughed.

133 groaned. "They'll be announcing their engagement any day now."

199 laughed. "I'll have to write that one down." He pulled out a small notebook. "1-5-8… and 1-7-7… are getting… engaged…," he said as he wrote it.

"It was a joke," said 133. "So what're you saying about names?"

"We need names, and the _special_ experiments have 'em," said Bandit. "And no, Jester, it's not a joke."

"Jester…," said 133 slowly. "I like it…."

"And 1-9-9 shoul' be 'Gossip,'" said Bandit.

"Right!" said 199, writing down, "My… new… name… is Gossip. Right."

Cut laughed again.

"You know, I was wrong," said Jester. "I reckoned Cut had a crush on Sherlock, but she's really just a big giggle puss."

Cut laughed again.

"You're right," said Gossip, and he wrote down, "Cut… a.k.a. Experiment 1-7-7… just… a big… giggle puss."

Cut laughed… _again_.

"_I_, for one, am not glad 2-2-1's gonna be a girl," said Jester. "They're too _giggly_."

Cut giggled.

"But they had lots of great secrets," said Gossip.

"Hey, what's that s'posed to—" Bandit was cut off mid-sentence by Jumba's shouting voice.

"Can I be having of your attention, please?" said Jumba. "Jumba has created another work of evil genius!"

The experiments cheered.

"I am presenting to you—_Experiment 221_!"

The experiments cheered yet louder, and some clapped for their creator.

"Fire up the Jumbatron!" shouted Cut.

"Fire up the Jumbatron! Fire up the Jumbatron!" chanted the other experiments.

"All right!" said Jumba, shouting to be heard over the chants.

Jumba flipped down a switch. The room grew dark and quiet (the experiments abruptly stopped cheering) and a beam of electricity from the ceiling struck the container—and then stopped as abruptly as it had come.

The experiments were confused. The electricity normally lasted for several minutes. Cut started whispering fervently to Sherlock; something that sounded suspiciously like "it won't work."

Jumba chuckled, looking at their surprised faces. "Just be watching," he told them. "Just wait."

Suddenly, the container lit up. And then electricity was everywhere. Experiments screamed and ran as Experiment 221's power shocked through the laboratory.

Only Bandit had the courage to go see the newly-made 221. "She's like your sister," she told herself. "Jumba made a girl, you know he did." She walked slowly up to the container. 221 had her back turned.

Bandit decided to tell her new sister "hello" and her name. "Nika, Electra!" Bandit told her. "I'm Bandit!"

221 turned to face her. Bandit gasped.

221 was a small, yellow experiment with dark blue eyes and extremely long, thing antennae. And it was a boy.


	5. Chapter Four: Sparky and Bandit

Chapter Four: Sparky and Bandit

"You made a _boy_!" Bandit shouted to Jumba. "You idiot!"

The experiments froze. No experiment had ever shouted at Jumba before, let alone call him an idiot.

"I did?" asked Jumba blankly. He looked over at the container, where 221 was staring at Bandit. "I did!"

"You promised Electra would be a _girl_!"

"Jumba is sorry!" Jumba said weakly. "But… was hard… had to create fast… so sorry…"

"ZZZZZZZZZ," said 221.

Jumba sighed. "Electricity experiment can only speak in Electroneese. 2-2-1, say—'J-uuummm-baaa.'"

"ZZZZZZZZ," said 221.

"J-uuummm-baaa," said Jumba.

"ZZZZ-um-ZZZa."

"J-uuummm-baaa."

"ZZZ-uuummm-baaa."

"J-uuummm-baaa."

"ZJ-uuummm-baaa."

"Jumba!" shouted Jumba.

"Jumba!" shouted 221.

"Huzzah!" cheered Jumba.

"Hu-zzzzz-ah!" cheered 221.

"I'm _bored_," said Bandit, and walked away.

--

"Malary," said Jumba, "Jumba has found solution to problem!"

"What?" said Malary, mildly curious.

"Here you are being." Jumba led 221 into the room.

Malary screamed. "What _is_ that… that _thing_?"

"Me an ex-zzz-eriment," 221 explained. "Ex-zzz-eriment 2-2-1."

"2-2-1?" shrieked Malary. "_Another_ one? How's another little… _monster_… gonna pay our electric bill?"

"Me make 'lectrici-zzzzz-y," said 221. "No more paying 'lectric bills. Me make your 'lectrici-zzzzzy for you."

"Well—I—" Malary was stunned. On one hand, she really wanted to get out of paying the electric bill, and on the other was her loathing of all things experiment-like.

"Well? Can he stay?" asked Jumba.

"Well? Can me ztay?" asked 221.

Malary sighed. "Fine," she told them, "he can."

--

Jumba held a party in his lab that night, and all 221 experiments were invited. 062, Chef, provided catering (Jumba forced him to make normal food), and 010 (now nicknamed "Maid") cleaned up the lab beforehand.

Jumba stood up to make a speech. "May I be having of your attention? Jumba would like to be making a speech."

"Ooh, a speech," said Cut, intrigued.

"Oh boy, a _speech_," said Bandit, bored.

"What ziz a zpeech?" asked 221. Jumba had been helping him improve his English ever since he was made, and now he was quite good at it.

Bandit ignored him. She had been angry at him ever since he turned out to be a boy and they couldn't use the name "Electra" on him.

"It's a long talk someone makes," Thief explained.

"_Oh_," said 221, disappointed. He didn't like long talking. It made his head hurt.

"Shut up, Thief," said Bandit. A few experiments stared at her; she normally got along quite well with Thief.

"I was only explaining it to him," said Thief coolly. "I'm sorry. I didn't know it was a crime to tell someone what a speech is."

"It's not," Bandit muttered.

"Then why'd you tell 'em to shut it, then, Bandit?" said a fast-talking voice. Salesman had walked over to them, wondering if he could sell something to someone over at that side of the long table.

"I think we all know that, Salesman," said Naughty sadly. "It's because she's mad that Electra was a boy. But Bandit loves Thief. And he loves her back. And I've got no one," he added. "No one at all."

But Bandit was now arguing very loudly with Thief about who he liked better, her or 221 (Naughty was right, they did love each other) and no one paid any attention to Naughty. No one except 221, that is.…

"Me," said 221.

"Huh?" asked Naughty.

"Me," 221 repeated. "You zayz you haz no one. You haz me."

"'You haz me?'" repeated Naughty.

"You… haz… me," said 221 slowly and clearly. "You… have… me."

"Oh, Electra!" Naughty shouted, and threw his arms around 221—a big mistake.

221 had no idea what a hug was. Sure, he knew that Jumba and the other experiments liked him, but he had never heard of public displays of affection in his short life. When Naughty had been talking about love, 221 had just assumed it was another word for "best friend" or something like that. And now he made another wrong assumption.

When Naughty hugged him, 221 assumed that he was trying to strangle him.

The room was in immediate chaos. 221 flew around everywhere, sending the experiments screaming and running just as they had on the previous night when he was created.

He cornered the shivering Naughty, who cried, "I-it was j-just a hug!"

221 looked puzzled. "Hug?"

"Y-yes, El-lectra, a-a _hug_," said Naughy.

"What iz hug?" asked 221.

"It's a _public display of affection_, 2-2-1," said Cut coldly. "_Everyone_ knows _that_."

"Oh…," said 221.

He looked around the room. The table was in shreds, food was scattered everywhere, and half the experiments were either running out of the room or clinging to the walls in fear of him.

"Oh…," said 221 again.

There was a very awkward pause.

"He's a _monster_!" Bandit suddenly shouted.

"Doesn't even know what a _hug_ is!" added another experiment.

"He messed up the whole lab and scared us all to death!" screamed another one.

"We should have him _destroyed_!" chimed in another.

221 lowered his head in sadness. Him, a monster? Him, messing up the lab? Him, destroyed?

"No he's not!" Naughty shrieked. "Sparky's my friend!"

"Sparky?" echoed the experiments.

"He's gotta have a name," said Naughty. "And Electra's a girls' name."

"Zparky?" asked 221. "Me likez zat name…"

"Then Sparky it is," said Naughty, grinning. Turning to the other experiments, he added, "You can't destroy him now that he's got a name."

Bandit grumbled something that sounded a lot like "I make names, not you," and went off to her bed in the other section of the lab.

There was silence for a minute, until Sparky said, "Zparky zhought ziz waz going to be a parzy."

"It is!" said Jumba. "So let us be partying!"

--

The party went on all night. The sounds of shouting and laughter and dancing reached the experiments' bed chamber where Bandit was curled up, trying to ignore it and get some sleep. The only problem was that it was impossible to ignore it.

"A toast, to our good friend and fellow experiment—Experiment 2-2-1!" she heard Jumba call.

Bandit was pleased to hear that there weren't many experiments cheering or agreeing with the toast. "One of them cheering is Naughty," she told herself firmly, "him and 2-2-1, you'll never like. Ever."

"Why are you not cheering?" asked Jumba.

The experiments muttered a few reasons why and Bandit rolled over. It was impossible to do anything with all the noise from the party. She grumbled. "This is all 221's fault. They all know it too… but everyone's still at the party because they simply like partying—"

Then it hit her. _Everyone was at the party._ Which meant that the experiment-making part of Jumba's lab was free of anyone who would try to stop her from doing what she should have done the moment 221 had turned out to be a boy.

She was going to make sure Experiment 222 was a girl, everything she had wished for in 221 but had been ruined when he turned out to be a boy. And there was only one way to do it.

Bandit was going to sneak into the lab and make an Experiment 222.


	6. Chapter Five: Electra is Born

Chapter Five: Electra is Born

Bandit started to tiptoe out of the bedchamber, even though she knew very well that there was no one else there. She was very surprised, in fact, to hear a small voice coming from a bed across the room.

"I know you're leaving."

Bandit jumped. "W-who's there?" she asked.

"Me," said the voice calmly. It was female, and Bandit could tell it was another experiment's. "Where are you going?"

"Who's 'me'?" asked Bandit, scared. She'd met most of her 221 fellow experiments, but this voice was of an experiment she'd never heard before… and it gave her the creeps.

"Experiment 1-2-9 is me," the voice replied. It sounded calm and smooth, as if nothing could ever upset it. Bandit was unnerved. She couldn't even see the experiment in the darkness of the bedchamber, but yet she knew that 129 would be trouble.

"W-what's your p-primary function?" Bandit asked. She tried to stay cam like 129, but it was hard. The experiment gave her the chills, yet how could it? There was no reason to be afraid of just calmness, she told herself firmly… or… was there?

129 cackled. She had a laugh that was cold, yet somehow still sustaining that unnerving, never-ending calm that had scared Bandit so much. Then she looked back at Bandit. "I'm calm," she finally said.

"I know _that_," Bandit snapped; she was growing impatient with 129. "What's your _primary function_? Like I steal things?"

129 laughed again. "I'm calm," she repeated.

Then Bandit understood. 129 was programmed to be unnervingly calm, and _that's_ why it scared her so much! Well, Bandit thought that it was a pretty cool power, but she wasn't about to tell 129 that.

"What's my name?" 129 suddenly asked.

"Your name?" repeated Bandit.

"My name," said 129. "I heard that you make names."

"You're just calm?" Bandit asked.

129 was silent.

"Heeeellllooo?" asked Bandit.

"Oh, I guess you didn't see me nod," said 129. "It's dark in here."

"Yeeeeah," said Bandit. "But, sorry, 1-2-9, I only make names for special experiments. Experiments I like," she added, in case 129 didn't understand her.

"You don't like me?" asked 129 quietly. Bandit shivered; the experiment was still talking in that smooth, calm voice, yet there was a definite hint of malice in it.

"Uh, n-no," said Bandit.

"I see," said 129, and stepped up to face her.

Bandit's immediate reaction was that 129 looked kind of like how Jumba had described people from the planet Ee-arth. She had pale yellowish skin, with her black fur only on the top of her head and falling down into her face. She had two black circles on top of her head and Bandit couldn't tell whether they were ears or tufts of fur. She was wearing a long yellow dress with olive-colored cloth on the end of her sleeves and at the top of it, and matching olive-colored shoes. She had a small pointed nose the same color as her skin. But her eyes… her eyes a milky gray, and then it struck Bandit.…

Experiment 129 was blind.

"Name me," said 129 quietly.

"Okay, okay," said Bandit, terrified, "you're 'Blind.'"

"No," said 129 firmly. "I'm calm."

"Okay…," said Bandit, "h-how about 'Calmness.'"

"That's a fine name," said 129. "And may I ask what yours is?"

"B-Bandit," said Bandit.

"Pitiful," said Calmness, "I could have thought of a better one." And with that she walked off.

--

There was no one in the lab to stop Bandit from what she was going to do, yet when one has a guilty conscience, everything sounds like someone coming to tell you off. She had no trouble sneaking into the room and getting onto Jumba's computer. But when she typed in to "make Experiment 222"…

"Warning: Experiment 2-2-2 has already been created," said the computer.

"_Already been created?_" hissed Bandit. She typed in, "files for 222."

"Accessing files for Experiment 2-2-2," beeped the computer.

A picture of 222 came up onto the screen. He was a small, olive-green experiment with a blobbish form and off-white (what were they?) things coming out of his head.

"Primary function: makes planetary leaders sick with purple pimples, smelly feet, swollen eyes, and uncontrollable burping," the computer beeped.

"Sickness? That's boring!" said Bandit, but she had other things on her mind. She typed in "make Experiment 223."

The computer beeped and the words "appearance," "gender," "powers," "function," and "personality." appeared on the screen. Bandit clicked on "gender."

"Male," beeped the computer, "or female?"

"Female!" Bandit shouted as she clicked the "female" button about five times.

"Confirmed," the computer told her, "2-2-3 is female."

"_Yesssss!_" cheered Bandit. She clicked "appearance."

"To select the appearance of Experiment 223, either gather DNA or select appearance from other experiments."

"Hmm," said Bandit. "I guess makin' Electra with parts from the other experiments would be easier.…" She clicked on "select appearance from other experiments."

"Confirmed," beeped the computer. Then files of all 222 experiments appeared on the screen for Bandit to choose.

"She can look like the traitor 2-2-1," Bandit said, scowling, and started to design Experiment 223.…

Half an hour later, the party was still going on strong, but meanwhile, 223 had been finished. She looked just like Sparky with a few exceptions—she was dark blue with a periwinkle nose, belly, paws, insides of ears, and the tip of her tail. Her eyes were coal black with a large green dot on them that caught the light. For "function," Bandit made 223 to be "Experiment 149's best friend." For "powers," she made the new experiment all of Sparky's and her own powers put together. And for "personality," Bandit made 223 spunky, fresh, and just like herself!

"Data ready," beeped the computer. "Save file or create experiment?"

Bandit glanced at the clock. It was almost one o' clock in the morning. She yawned widely. Surely the party would end soon? But she'd probably never get another chance to make Electra.…  
"Create experiment," Bandit decided, and so she typed it in. She walked over to the Jumbatron and flipped the switch.

The room grew dark and a beam of electricity from the ceiling struck the container—and then stopped as abruptly as it had come. But then smoke filled the room!

"Oh… no!" Bandit coughed, trying to see her creation through all the smoke. "I… m-must've… messed… u-up!"

She couldn't see a thing, but Bandit could have sworn she heard the door creak open. "Heeeellllooo?" called Naughty's voice.

Of course! How could she have been so stupid as to leave the door unlocked?

Naughty gasped. "Oh, no! Jumba?"

"N-no," coughed Bandit. "I-it's m-me."

"Who's 'me'?" Naughty sounded scared.

Bandit suddenly grinned. She had an idea. "I-it's y-your be-best friend." She paused and started coughing again. "I-it's S-Spa-Sparky."

"You sound t-terrible!" Naughty coughed, and Bandit guessed he had stepped inside the lab.

"N-no!" choked Bandit, flinging out her arms. "N-Naughty, g-g-go ba-back to the par-party."

"N-no! I c-can't l-leave y-you he-here!" choked Naughty. "Y-you'll d-d-die of a-all the sm-smoke, S-Sparky!"

"G-go!" shouted Bandit.

Naughty sounded like he was crying. "Y-you're m-my only fr-friend."

"G-go!" Bandit repeated. "G-go. Please?"

"I-I'm g-going to g-get J-Jumba!" coughed Naughty.

"No!" shouted Bandit. "D-don't!"

But he had already gone.

"N-no," choked Bandit, "no. Don't g-go. Don't leave me here."

Her mind was becoming cloudy, and it wasn't from the smoke. She couldn't talk, she couldn't think, she couldn't breath. Without realizing what she was doing, Bandit was on the ground, crying. No one could hear her… it was all her fault… if she hadn't been so mad at Sparky… she wouldn't have made 223… she wouldn't be here… Naughty was getting help… it would be too late when he came… she was going to die… she was never going to see Thief again… never tell him she's sorry.

Bandit rose up her head a fraction of an inch and croaked, "Naughty… Thief… _S-Sparky_." She was dying… she surely didn't have much longer.… But then she said two words… just two words, yet they meant everything.

"I'm… sorry," croaked Bandit.

And then everything went black.


	7. Chapter Six: What is Love?

Chapter Six: What is Love?

"I—I think she's alive."

"Of course she is being living! My experiments do not die just from a little bit of smoke!"

"Are you sure she'll be okay?"

"Bandit! Bandit! Bandit!"

"Naughty was with her! He killed her! Naughty killed Bandit! He did! He did!"

"_Naughty_ keel… Bandit?"

"No, Sparky, it was the smoke—"

"Yes, was smoke."

"What was she doing in your lab anyway?"

"That I maybe shall never know."

"Bandit! Bandit! Bandit!"

Bandit was so confused… the voices made no sense… she couldn't think… she was tired… so tired…

"Bandit! Bandit! Wake up! _Bandit!_"

Bandit slowly understood… she was making 223… the smoke from the Jumbatron… she had passed out… they were all worried… someone wanted her to wake up… someone was worried… Thief was worried…

Bandit slowly opened her eyes. She was lying on the floor of Jumba's lab. Standing over her were Jumba, Naughty, Sparky, Thief, and various other experiments. Jumba looked grim, but resolute, as if he knew she would be okay. Naughty was fiddling with his fingers; he was afraid everyone thought it his fault. Sparky was staring blankly at her, not knowing whether he liked her or not. Thief was out of her blurry view…

Two yellow arms were holding on to her shoulders. "She's awake!" the owner of the arms called when he realized it. "Bandit, Bandit—it's me, Thief. You're gonna be okay… you're gonna be okay."

"I know," said Bandit croakily, "but only because you're here." She gave him a weak smile.

"Ooh, who was it?" called Cut excitedly. "Who made all the smoke?"

"It was Naughty, I _know_ it," said Salesman. "I bet ya it was!"

"No… it wasn't," said Bandit. "It was… it was me."

"You?" asked Thief. "But… what were you doing…?"

"Let me explain." Bandit sat up. "I was making another experiment. Experiment 2-2-3," she told them. "I was mad that Sparky was a boy. But something went wrong and then all the smoke came. And then Naughty came in—"

"I just left her there!" Naughty covered his eyes with his hands. "She said she was Sparky and I went to get Jumba and…"

"Z'okay," Sparky said, patting his friend on the hand. "Bandit iz okay."

"Yeah, it's okay," said Bandit, smiling.

"You were making of 2-2-3?" asked Jumba.

Bandit nodded.

"I didn't think to stop her," said a voice quietly. Bandit scowled as Calmness walked over to her. "I watched her go." She placed her hand on top of Bandit's.

"Forget it," Bandit said angrily, pulling her hand away from Calmness. "I hate you."

"Now, Bandit," said Thief, "she's just trying to be nice."

"No way," said Bandit, glaring at the calm experiment. "She's up to _something_ or other…"

"Yeah, she is," said a small voice. "Don't trust 'er, Bandit!"

"Who iz zat?" asked Sparky, but then they saw the thing floating up by the ceiling.

"It's a bird," said Naughty.

"It's a _hovercraft_," said Cut.

"It's Electra," whispered Bandit.

"I'm 2-2-3!" shouted 223. She flew down to meet them. "Hi! You know my creator Bandit here made me, I s'pose! I should—" But she stopped when she saw Sparky and grinned. "Hey! You must be 2-2-1!"

"He-heee-heeeellloooo," stuttered Sparky. What was the matter with him? "You m-muzt be zu-zu-zee."

223 laughed. "Call me Electra," she said. "And you? You're Sparky."

"Me Zparky," said Sparky, "right. Why you no… no…"

"Talk like you?" Electra suggested.

Sparky nodded.

"I dunno." Electra shrugged. "C'mon, let's go do something fun!" She grabbed Sparky's hand and pulled him out into the main chamber of the lab.  
"Wait," said Sparky. Electra waited. What was he going to say? That he didn't want to go? That he was getting the chills from holding her hand? That he really, really liked her already and he'd only just met her?

"Zparky likes you," he finally said, "a lot."

Electra smiled. "C'mon."

"Where?"

"Outside." Her legs turned into a buzzing blue tail and she zoomed out of the laboratory.

"Wait up!" Sparky called. He turned his legs into a tail as well and zoomed off after Electra into the skies.

--

The two of them flew along together past moons and stars and planets and houses. Finally, Sparky stopped and said to her, "Um…"

"What?" asked Electra, stopping as well.

"Sparky… um… likes you," he said, surprised at how good his English was. "I… like you a whole lot…"

Electra smiled. "Lemme guess—you love me?"

"No," said Sparky, "or yes." He paused and then asked, "What is love?"

"Love is… just _love_," Electra tried to explain. "Oh, there's no other way to say it… love is… love is how I feel for you, Sparky."

"Sparky loves Electra too," said Sparky.

Suddenly, Electra threw her arms around him. But Sparky had experience on the subject of hugs now, and didn't pull away. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her, and when her face moved closer to his to kiss him, he was ready.


	8. Chapter Seven: Is Love Really Real?

Chapter Seven: Is Love Really Real?

Sparky yawned. They had been flying for hours, and now they were trying to find their way back to the lab—but they were completely lost. Sparky was exhausted, and so Electra was carrying him.

"Hang on… here's another house," said Electra for the millionth time. She squinted at the mailbox. "The mailbox says 'Giripus.' Sound familiar?"

Sparky yawned again. "Naga."

"'Hyro.'"

"Naga…"

"'Jookiba.'"

"Naga…"

"'Kalamans.'"

"Naga… wait!" Sparky looked up at the Jookiba's mailbox. "Jookiba… Jumba's last name! Bandit mentioned."

"Really?" Electra looked up at the house. "Good work, Sparky!"

"Hmm…," said Sparky.

"What?"

"This not the lab."

"Then why does it say 'Jookiba' on it?"

Sparky shrugged.

"C'mon," said Electra, and she knocked on the door. _Knock, knock!_

No one answered.

"Jumba's probably busy," said Electra uncertainly. She creaked opened the door; it was unlocked.

Sparky didn't answer, but followed her inside.

Electra tiptoed across the floor, Sparky right behind her. A small buzz coming from the two electricity experiments was the only sound they could hear.…

"Who's there?" shouted a voice.

Sparky froze. He jumped into Electra's arms, terrified.

"E-Electra a-and Spa-Sparky," stuttered Electra.

"Who?" asked the voice.

"2-2-3 and 2-2-1," Sparky explained.

"_Experiments?_" boomed the angry voice. "And _what_, may I ask, are you doing _in my house_?"

"Ju-Jumba?" asked Sparky hopefully, but it was not Jumba, but his wife, who was walking towards them.

"Who are you?" asked Electra.

"Malary," whispered Sparky. "Jumba's wife."

"Then we've got nothin' to worry about," Electra whispered back, "if she's anything like her husband."

"Naga," said Sparky. "Hates experiments. Hates you," he added. "Malary likes me 'cause I pay 'lectric bill, so let meega handle her." He took a step towards Malary.

"No!" Electra grabbed onto Sparky's arm. "No! If she hates experiments she must dislike you too!"

"Naga," said Sparky quietly, "you let go now."

"No!" squealed Electra. "I won't!"

"Come," said Malary, "come to me, 2-2-1. Together we'll do great things—without your little blue friend here."

"Without Electra?" asked Sparky.

"Yes," said Malary, "and without that meddling Jumba as well."

"Stop, Sparky, it's a trap!" Electra wailed.

"Forget it," Sparky said to Malary. "Never."

"C'mon, Sparkies," Malary purred, stroking Sparky's antennae. "Think about it. Without nasty Jumba, you can do whatever you please, whenever you please. And without that _awful_ 2-2-3"—("Hey!" said Electra.)—"you'll be free to like other girls. Think about it. Your life could be great."

There was a pause. And then…

"No," said Sparky. "Sparky not coming with you."

"Well, Sparky," said Malary, "would Jumba let you take revenge on that nasty bandit 1-4-9?"

"Well, no…," said Sparky.

"Well, would Jumba try to _kill_ your friends, your fellow experiments? _Would he?_" Electra hissed. "_No!_ But Malary would! Don't listen to her, it's a trap!"

"I wouldn't try to _kill_ you, Electra," said Malary softly. "But I do think a certain wonderful little 2-2-1 should get his revenge on Bandit, don't you?" She smiled at Electra, who glowered at her.

"Forget it, I know what you're up to," said Electra coldly. "You can't take me and you can't take my Sparky!"

"And why can't I take him?" Malary grinned.

"Because…," said Electra, "because I love him!"

"I… I…" Sparky didn't know what to do. "Meega wants revenge on Bandit," he finally said.

"Sparky!" gasped Electra, horrified. "No!"

"Sparky!" gasped Malary, delighted. "Yes!"

"I'm coming with you, Malary," said Sparky, his face oddly blank.

"Sparky, no," said Electra softly, and Sparky saw she had tears in her eyes. "I love you. You can't go, you just can't. You can't leave me. Please." She grabbed onto his arm more firmly than before. "Please."

"I love you too, Electra," Sparky said quietly. "But don't you see—Malary will let us do whatever we want. With her, experiments are free. Malary is our queen."

"Naga!" Electra cried. "She's not, she's not! She's tricking you! Oh, Sparky, what happened? I love you!" She turned to him, teary-eyed and miserable. "I love you," she whispered.

Sparky stared at her, and then Electra saw it. In his eyes, there was not love, but hatred. Pure hatred—hatred for Electra.

"No," she whispered. "No."

"Let go," said Sparky coldly, trying to pull his arm away from her.

"No!" she wailed. "I won't let you go! I love you!"

Sparky glared at her, but then he hung his head. Electra expected him to say something like "Well, I don't love you back, so let go of me," or "I hate you, Electra, now let go," or even "Shut up, you freak, can't you see I don't love you? Now let go, love isn't real and I hate you," but he didn't.

"I'm sorry," said Sparky quietly, and he used his electricity powers to shock her.

"Ow!" shouted Electra, rubbing her sore hand. And then she realized that she had let go of her loved one. "Oh no." She looked around—Sparky was in Malary's arms.

"No!" she gasped.

"Yes," said Sparky, his face oddly blank again, "now scram. I hate you."

Electra ran out of the door and into the night. She flew all the way past the Unium Blacknard (which is rather like a town), crying all the while. "Sparky. He's gone."

Meanwhile, Malary pulled a switch on a hypnotizing device and cackled.

"Huh?" asked Sparky, turning to her. "Malary? Where's Electra? What's going on?"

Malary cackled again. "It's amazing how a little hypnotism can make one forget their love, eh?"

"Hypnotism…?" Sparky realized what she meant, and then the events of the night came back to him. "Electra!"

He flew to the door and called to the skies, "Electra!"

Malary walked over to him and grinned. "It's too late, Sparky. She's gone."


	9. Chapter Eight: Time Has Passed

Chapter Eight: Time Has Passed

Sparky woke up. He was lying on the floor of a large room; the floor cold and hard. He tried to remember the night before… yes… he had been in Malary's house… trying to run from her. Today he was going to escape from her once and for all, and find Electra and… apologize.

Sparky sat up. "Ouch!" he shouted. He had put his hand down on a small bit of glass. He looked around. Why was there water and shards of glass everywhere? It looked as if someone had tipped over a glass flowerpot, except there were no flowers to be seen.

"Sparky," someone whispered. "It's really you."

Sparky recognized the voice and growled. "Bandit."

"Um, hi," said Bandit, stepping out from behind a large box on the floor and over to him, trying to avoid standing on glass. "Remember me?"

Sparky was still growling. "What's going on?"

"Ya know, I've always wondered…," said Bandit suddenly, "what's it like to be dehydrated into a pod? Jumba said it's impossible, but if Malary can do it then Jumba can! Ooh, I can dehydrate Calmness.…"

"What?" Sparky interrupted.

"You mean ya don't know? Ya really don't?" asked Bandit, flabbergasted.

Sparky nodded. "Know what?"

"Geeze…," said Bandit, "I guess I'll have to tell ya then.… Sit down, it's a long story."

"I'm sitting," said Sparky angrily.

"Oh, good… so, anyway, here goes. Well, the night that I made Electra, you know, and I passed out?"

"Last night," said Sparky. "How could meega forget?"

"Last night? Blimey, Sparky, that was three years ago!"

Sparky couldn't believe his ears. "Three _years_? Maybe you mean three… days…?"

"No, I really mean three years," said Bandit gravely. "Nobody knew where you were, all this time. So—"

"Meega missed third birthday!" Sparky cried.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," said Bandit. "Don't interrupt. So anyway, that night, you and Electra flew off. You two went inside ol' Jumba's house thinkin' it was the lab. But Malary was there, and she hypnotized ya. Electra was mad and flew off, and you stayed with Malary tryin' to escape."

"Then meega fell asleep?" asked Sparky.

"For three years? No," said Bandit. "Malary turned you into a pod."

"Pod?"

"A little ball with your number on it. When it touches water, you turn back to normal. I found your pod and stuck it in a glass of water, so thank me for your comin' back into the world. But the glass was kinda too small, eh?"

That explained the water and glass all over the floor. But Sparky still didn't believe her. "Really?" he asked.

"Yup," said Bandit, "really."

"Where's Electra?" demanded Sparky.

Bandit frowned. "Well, you see, Sparky, um, when you upset her way back when, she kinda, um, flew off and, um…"

"…never came back?" Sparky finished for her, his heart sinking.

"Yeah," said Bandit.

"Oh," said Sparky softly, staring at his toes and trying hard not to cry. Electra was gone. Gone. Forever gone. She hated him. She'd never come back. Ever.

"I miss her too," said Bandit quietly.

Sparky looked up. "You do?"

"Yeah." Bandit sighed. "I made 'er, after all." She paused, and then added, "Naughty misses you, by the way. Some of the other experiments are scaredy-cats like him now, Vanish and Stinky to name a few, but he still misses ya anyway."

"Naughty! Where is he?"

"C'mon." Bandit grabbed his arm and pulled him into another room.

"Whoa," Sparky whispered. There were experiments from wall to wall; experiments on the ceiling; experiments _everywhere_.

"Yeah," said Bandit. "Did I mention that Jumba's made 625 experiments now?"

"_625?_" gasped Sparky.

"Um, yeah," said Bandit.

A pretty pink experiment with batting eyelashes and long antennae that fell down her back bounded over to them. "Ooh, Bandit, who's the new kid?"

Sparky blinked. "Meega Sparky."

"Sparky?" asked the experiment. "I thought that one was the lost Experiment 2-2-1."

"Meega 2-2-1," said Sparky. "You… you pretty."

She laughed. "I know."

"6-2-4, this _is_ Experiment 2-2-1," said Bandit. "I found his pod and activated him. Sparky, this is 6-2-4. If any experiments get brainwashed for some reason, she's designed to be there and get them back in their heads!"

624 giggled. "It's Song. My name is Song."

"Song," Sparky repeated. Song… what a nice name. He found himself staring into her eyes… her beautiful eyes… she was pretty… so pretty…

"Sparky? You okay?" asked Bandit, waving her hand in front of his face.

"Meega fine," said Sparky. "Um, Song…"

"Yes?" Song asked, smoothing down her antennae.

"Song—_da bookily da booshibu!_"

"No!" cried Bandit, holding him back so he couldn't hug 624. "Sparky, think of Electra!"

He did. Electra… _she_ was his booshibu, his loved one… Sparky suddenly realized he'd never said "bookily da booshibu" ("I love you" in Kwetikwan) to her… and now he was saying it to an experiment he'd just met?

"Naga," said Sparky quickly. "Naga booshibu, Song. Electra is booshibu, sorry."

Song laughed. "Sometimes it gets tiring to have boys gaping at me day and night. I'm glad you have a girlfriend. That's one less guy to annoy me." She sighed, but it was really more of a giggle, and Sparky knew she had only done it for dramatic purposes.

"I'm still here, booshibu," said another experiment, stroking Song's chin. He looked much like her, except that he was yellow and chubby and had three short, stubby antennae on top of his head.

"Yeah," purred Song, "6-2-5."

"It's Sandy," 625 told Sparky. "Hey, stay away from my booshibu, okay? Song and I are made for each other."

Song smiled. "I'm not your _booshibu_."

Bandit groaned. "C'mon, Sparky, let's go."

As they were walking away, Sparky said, "Um… Song is…"

"I dunno," said Bandit. "Sometimes she's my friend, but when she's around Sandy it's just hard to bear 'em."

"What Sandy do?" asked Sparky.

"He's a failed experiment," Bandit replied. "Designed to be the experiment o' ultimate destruction, but he only makes sandwiches and eats 'em. Jumba's plannin' to make 6-2-6 a finished version o' 6-2-5, a workin' one that is."

"Ah," said Sparky. Then, he froze.

His booshibu was walking over to him.

"Electra!" he cried.

"Just so you know, Dorky," said Electra coldly, "I hate you. My booshibu is Sandy now and there's nothing you can do about it!"

"Electra," said Sparky softly and sadly. "No! Bookily da… da booshibu."

Bandit, however, laughed. "Fear, stop it."

Electra morphed into a green blob with glowing green eyes. "Nika."

"Sparky, this is Fear," said Bandit. "He's Experiment 300. He morphs into your worst fear!"

Another experiment that looked rather like a large fly flew over and Fear turned into a giant flyswatter.

Bandit giggled. "See?"

"Yeah!" said Sparky, laughing.

The fly-like experiment looked Sparky in the eye, and suddenly he couldn't remember a thing.

"Kadu na meega?" asked Sparky, which means "who am I?" in Kweltikwan. He glanced at Bandit. "Gaba?"

Bandit laughed. "You're Sparky, Experiment 2-2-1. And I'm Bandit, Experiment 1-4-9."

"Gambooka gabbly," said Sparky, telling Bandit that he needed her help.

"No," said Bandit, grinning. "I wanna have some fun with you…"

"Chi-ka!" said Sparky angrily, which means, "fine!"

Just then, Song bounded over. "What's going on here?"

"Oocha," said Sparky, which means "nothing."

"Why's he talking in Jumba's language?" asked Song.

"3-0-3's got him," Bandit explained. "Sparky can't remember how to speak English."

"Agaba?" asked Sparky, which means "what's it say?" He was referring to Song.

"Well, that's nice," Song muttered.

"I think we've had our fun, Song. Ohana," said Bandit, and Sparky remembered everything again.

"'Ohana'?" asked Sparky.

"It's the password. You say it to make Memory give you your memory back," said Bandit. "Jumba made it a random word on purpose to confuse people."

"Yes," hissed Fear.

"_Is_ confusing," said Sparky. "And 6-2-5 other experiments… more confusing."

"Not to me," said Song.

"Aw, you'll get used to it, Sparks," said Bandit. "I did."

"SPARKY!"

Sparky saw a whirl of turquoise fur, and suddenly, with a giant hug, Naughty was on top of him.

"Hi," said Sparky weakly; Naughty was heavy.

"_Hi?_" cried Naughty. "Hi! Sparky, it's you! It's really you! I missed you so much and now you're here! Oh, yes! Huzzah! It's you, it's you! It's Sparky! It's 2-2-1! It's my best friend ever! Huazzah! Where were you these past three years? It's you, it's really you!"

"Meega knows," said Sparky. "Um… Naughty…"

"Yes?" asked Naughty eagerly.

"You get off me?"

"Oh, sorry…" Naughty jumped off of Sparky and beamed. "It's really you."

"Yes," said Sparky.

"I missed you so much! Did you miss me all those years?"

"Um…" Sparky stared at his toes.

"I'll explain," said Bandit, and she did.

"Whoa," said Naughty softly when Bandit finished. He turned to his best friend. "Is it true?"

Sparky nodded.

"Whoa," said Naughty again.

"Wheep!" squeaked a voice.

"Who that?" asked Sparky.

"Vanish," said Naughty, "there you are! I want you to meet my friend Sparky."

Vanish appeared. He looked almost exactly like a rabbit from the planet Ee-arth, except that his pink spots on his arms and enormous ears gave him away.

He blinked his big eyes and a second experiment appeared next to him. This one had a tiny pink body and a huge pink head, with big eyes and a small, cute nose.

"Sparky, this is Vanish," said Naughty. "He's Experiment 6-0-4 designed to make things disappear."

Vanish nodded.

"Hi," said Sparky. "Meega Sparky."

"Spar-ky," said the little pink experiment.

"Oh, and this is Stinky," said Naughty. "He's 2-5-4."

Stinky waved. "Hi, Sparky."

"Why he named…" Sparky's question was answered for him as a disgusting smell filled their nostrils.

"G-_ross_!" gasped Song.

Bandit laughed. "That's Stinky for ya."

Song wrinkled her nose. "I don't like him." She bounded off.

"Um, Stinky, you can stop now," said Naughty, holding his nose.

"Oh-kay," said Stinky, and he stopped.

"Phew," said Vanish.

"Ya got that right," said Bandit.

"Stinky is stinky," added Sparky.

Naughty laughed. "Yeah, that's how he got his name."

"Meega guessed that," said Sparky, grinning.

"Attention! May I be having of your attention please?"

A loud, booming voice filled the room, making Sparky jump into Bandit's arms and then blush with embarrassment. "Meega—meega just scared. Naga—"

"_Ooh!_" Song interrupted him. "I just realized how cute a couple Sparky and Bandit would make!"

Sparky blushed harder than ever, and Bandit replied curtly, "He was only scared, Song, nothing else. He's never heard ol' Jumba on the intercom before, after all."

Sparky turned to her, puzzled. "Intercom?"

"You see, Jumba talks into a machine and his voice comes out louder over the speakers," Naughty explained for Bandit, because now she was in a raging argument with Song. "He must be about to announce something important, otherwise he never would've bothered to tell us."

"Attention!" Jumba's voice repeated, and now Sparky could see that it was coming out of a bunch of small black boxes up on the ceiling of the room. "Jumba is being ready to create Experiment 6-2-6, the _ultimate monster_!"

The experiments cheered. Naughty and Bandit clapped along with them, but Sparky noticed that they weren't looking very excited about 626. Song giggled and sang a note, quickly covering her mouth and ignoring all the experiments begging her to sing more. Vanish disappeared, frightened by all the noise, and Stinky jumped and purred and clapped. Fear and Memory flew off together (Fear had turned into a bat from Ee-arth and was frightening several of his fellow experiments), and Sandy looked positively sulky. Only Sparky seemed unsure of what to do, and he tugged on Naughty's arm and asked why everyone was behaving like they were.

Naughty laughed. "Everyone's cheering for Jumba, Sparky. He's finally managed to create an ultimate monster!"

"Naga—us—you, Bandit, Vanish, Stinky…"

"Ah," said Naughty, "Bandit and I were just wishing Jumba would still let the other experiments watch him make his creation."

"He doesn't?" gasped Sparky.

"Nah, there's too many of us," Naughty replied, smiling at the look of anger on Sparky's face. "Oh, about the others… Vanish, he gets scared by crowds easily, and Stinky… well, he's just a bit excitable, that's all."

"What about Song?"

Naughty laughed. "Song was about to sing, but her song makes us experiments brainwashed to create mayhem. I think she's enjoying all the extra attention; her song is very… um… _nice_ and a lot of experiments wanna hear it."

"And Sandy?"

"Ah, he just wishes that Jumba would give him a bit more credit. He's the original ultimate monster experiment after all, and he supervised all of 6-2-6's tests."

"Attention!" Jumba's voice boomed again, making the experiments fall silent. "Since Experiment 6-2-5 was being the original design that is now in 6-2-6—"

Sandy looked up, eager to hear what was said about him.

"—I will be allowing him and only him to witness the creation of Experiment 6-2-6. That is all."

The experiments booed, and all turned to glare at Sandy.

"I didn't _ask_ Doc to let me be able to watch," he muttered, stepping around all the angry experiments and up to the stairs.

Suddenly Bandit grabbed Sparky's arm. "C'mon! Sandy must know his way up to the main part of the lab—we can follow him!"

"Where we going?" asked Sparky as they ran past.

"To see the creation of a certain Experiment 6-2-6!" shouted Bandit. And with that, she opened the door to the stairs and pulled Sparky inside.


	10. Chapter Nine: Experiment 626

Chapter Nine: Experiment 626

Sparky remembered there being a lot less stairs in Jumba's house, but then again, Jumba might have added some in the three years he'd been dehydrated. He and Bandit climbed step after step after step, and after a while Sparky wondered if it was really worth all this climbing just to watch Jumba make Experiment 626.

Finally, they came to the top step, and there was the door into the experiment making room.

"C'mon," said Bandit. She had to drag Sparky inside, for he couldn't walk another step.

It seemed that Sandy had just gotten there as well. He was talking to Jumba, and Sparky and Bandit were able to run to the other side of the room and hide unnoticed.

"Whadda ya think they're talking about?" whispered Bandit.

"Dunno," Sparky replied.

"Probably discussing 6-2-6's powers and stuff," Bandit said thoughtfully.

"Maybe," said Sparky.

Suddenly Bandit looked worried. "You're buzzing!"

Sparky realized it too. "Can't help it."

"Think they'll hear you?" asked Bandit.

"No," said Sparky truthfully. "They too busy talking… and experiment making not really quiet."

"Yeah," said Bandit.

"I'll go sit over there," Sandy told Jumba, sitting down on a stool on the opposite side of the room from Bandit and Sparky.

"All right! You are being ready?" asked Jumba, putting on a pair of safety goggles.

Sandy nodded.

"Tooki ba _waba_!" Jumba roared, and flipped down a switch. A beam of electricity came down from the ceiling and struck the container in the middle of the room, but unlike in Sparky and Electra's creations, it continued to strike.

Jumba's maniacal laughter rang throughout the room as the light reflected on his goggles. It grew brighter, and clouds of dark blue mist began to form in the container.

Bandit nudged Sparky. "It's working!"

Then Jumba, finishing up his laughter, flipped the switch back up and coughed. "Is not so easy on the throat!"

He let go of the switch and walked over to the container, where the mist was clearing and a little blue ball sat in its place. He took off his goggles and stared at the ball in wonder. "Can it _be_? Have I _done it_?"

Bandit gasped.

The ball opened up to reveal a cute, blue experiment that looked a lot like Song. "Ah." He looked up at Jumba and then around the room. "Ohhhhh."

"Wow," breathed Sparky.

Bandit squeezed his hand. "It's 6-2-6!"

Jumba gasped. "Aha!"

626 purred.

"So… cute," said Jumba, "so… _fluffy_."

626 stood up. He pressed his nose to the front of the container, up to Jumba's nose, and sniffed.

Jumba gasped again. "_Where did I go wrong?_" he moaned.

626 pressed himself against the back of the container, growling. He then jumped on to the front (Jumba screamed) making rude noises and climbing all over the container, viciously growling at his creator.

Jumba laughed. "What a relief!" He bent down and told the experiment, "Your name is 6-2-6. Isn't that nice."

626 stood up and looked Jumba in the eye, hissing at him.

"Now, I know, I know," said Jumba, grabbing onto a cord. He dragged it over to 626's container. "You want to get out and wreak some havoc." He plugged the cord into the container, which lit up. "But your molecules need to be charged. Hmm, that's _most_ important part."

626 climbed around his container impatiently. Jumba walked away. The computer screen showed a picture of 626 and a bar that was slowly filling up and beeping.

"Meanwhile, I've got a surprise for you," said Jumba.

626 jumped up, excited. "Ih, ih!"

"Close your eyes."

626 kept one eye open, hoping Jumba wouldn't notice.

"Ha—no peeking," Jumba warned him, delighted. "He cheats already."

"Oh, cheeky-bay!" 626 groaned, covering his eyes with all four hands as Jumba laughed.

"Ta-da!" Jumba pulled out a little red jumpsuit, fitting for 626.

"Aww," whispered Bandit. "He'll look so cute in that!"

"Ooh! Jajiba!" 626 growled happily. "Ooh, jajabata-bita!"

"If it's too big, I will have it taken in," Jumba explained.

There was a knock on the door.

"Uh-oh," said Jumba.

626 looked up, afraid.

"Open up!" shouted a voice. "It's the Inter-Galactic Police!"

Sparky and Bandit gasped. "Oh no!"

"Uh, is nobody home!" Jumba called, stuffing 626's suit into a compartment in the container. "Check it in mail!"

The door lit up, blasted by a plasma gun.

"I'm in the tub!" shouted Jumba.

Sparky screamed, but nobody heard him. The door blasted apart and three aliens in protective suits jumped into the room. They pointed their guns at Jumba. "You are under arrest for illegal genetic experimentation!"

Jumba tried to cover 626's container with his arms. "You idiots! You will to ruin _everything_! Ow! Ow!"

One of the police officers grabbed Jumba's arm, and one grabbed his leg. "Yeah, yeah, tell it to the council," said one.

Bandit gasped. "No!" Sparky held her back.

Jumba grabbed onto 626's container, but his hands slipped and they dragged him away. "_Let… me… go!_ Ow!" He fell to the ground.

A police officer took off his mask. "You two: get the evidence!"

The others circled 626's container.

"Oh, stop, _stop_!" cried Jumba, for one of them was about to pull out the plug. "His molecules aren't fully charged!" He attempted to lung at them, but the officer had his arms in handcuffs and was pulling the scientist away. "_Don't—_"

They pulled out the plug.

"_No!_"

Red lights flashed. "Warning. Warning. Warning."

"Ohhh!" cried Jumba, horrified.

The officer tossed the cord aside.

"Warning: Electromagnetic bonding incomplete," beeped the computer.

"_No! No! No!_" cried Jumba, as he was dragged out of his lab. "There's no telling what will happen! Let me go! _Nooooooooooo!_ What will become of my little _monstrosityyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy_?"

"Jumba!" cried Sandy, jumping out to save his creator.

"Look, there's another one!" shouted one of the police. "Seize him!"

They did. Sandy struggled, but it was no use. He just wasn't strong enough.

"6-2-5—use your _powers_, you miserable excuse for an experiment!" said Jumba crossly.

Sandy glared at him. "You think I'm not trying, Doc? I don't _have_ any powers!"

"Yes you do!" cried Jumba.

Suddenly Bandit turned to Sparky. "Sparky—you can use _your_ powers! Scare them!"

Sparky grinned. "Oka… _taka_!"

A flying yellow blaze was all you could see of Sparky as he flew around the room. The police pointed their guns at him, but it made no difference—the experiment was just too fast for them.

Sparky flew over to 626's container and pushed the button to open it. 626 growled at him.

"It's okataka," Sparky told him.

"What… you… doing?" asked 626 slowly.

Sparky grinned. "Rescue."

626 thingyed his head. "Why?"

"We're family," Sparky told him. "Meega can't just… leave you."

626 smiled at him, and then pushed Sparky out of his way. He growled and headed straight for the policemen. Yanking Sandy out of their grip, he threw the experiment aside and stole the policemen's guns.

The aliens screamed and backed away as 626 pointed their own guns at them. "Don't move."

They held up their hands. "We… we won't."

Sparky gasped—the third policeman was sneaking up behind 626, who hadn't noticed. "6-2-6! Look out!"

It was too late. The policeman took back his guns and gestured towards the others. "C'mon, let's take the idiot scientist and get outta here!" And off they ran.

"Jumba!" cried Bandit, reaching out to her creator.

"Bandit!" cried Jumba. "Warn the others! Dehydrate them and take them to me! Name 6-2-6—"

The head policeman stuck his arm in Jumba's mouth. Then they escaped out the door.

"Jumba…" Bandit sank to the floor.

"He's… gone," breathed Sandy. "I… I can't believe…"

626 looked around. His ears drooped. He had no idea what was going on.

"Jumba said name 6-2-6," Sparky remembered.

626 looked up. "Huh?"

"How about… Blueford?" asked Sandy.

626 growled. "Nah."

"Smashy?" asked Bandit.

626 shook his head. All three of them turned to Sparky.

"Hmm…," said Sparky. "Maybe… we name him… Stitch?"

The others looked at each other. Then they all burst out laughing.

"_'Stitch'_?" cried Bandit. "That's the stupidest name I've ever heard!"

"_'Stitch'_?" cried Sandy. "That's the dumbest word I've ever imagined!"

"_'Stitch'_?" cried 626. Then he paused. "Stitch… meega likes it."

They stopped laughing.

"You actually _like_ it?" cried Bandit. "You like _Stitch_ but you turned down _Smashy_?"

626 nodded. "I like Stitch."

Sparky beamed. "Stitch it is."

Stitch smiled.


	11. Chapter Ten: Goodbye

Chapter Ten: Goodbye

After running down the enormous flight of steps, Sandy and Bandit (who knew their way around better) led Sparky and Stitch into a room. It was small and cramped, with only a desk, a chair, and a lamp inside it. The desk was covered in small machines that the four experiments could only guess what their purposes were.

Bandit picked up a small black box and began to speak into it. Her loud, magnified voice came over the intercom: "Attention! Attention, fellow experiments! It's me, Bandit, Experiment 1-4-9. Jumba's been captured by the Inter-Galactic Police and has asked me, Sandy, Sparky, and Experiment 6-2-6—"

Stitch growled and grabbed the intercom out of her hands. "Hi. Meega Stitch!"

Bandit snatched it back. "Yeeeeee_ah_, that was 6-2-6. Anyway, Jumba asked us to take charge. So everyone run to the main hall, pronto." She put it down and added to Sparky and Stitch, "Jumba always said that if he got captured, one of us should dehydrate all the other experiments, travel to the prison, and give him a container full of the pods. That way, maybe we'd have a chance to survive."

"So who's gonna stay un-dehydrated?" asked Sparky.

"Meega!" cried Stitch.

Bandit shook her head. "Nah, Stitch, you're too young. You still need to learn a lot about the world."

Stitch hung his head. "Aw."

"I'm not goin'," said Sandy quickly

Sparky shook his head. "Not me."

Everyone looked at Bandit. "Okay," she said slowly, "I'll go. But I want one of you to come with me. It'll be—_dangerous_ breaking Jumba out of prison and—and I'm _scared_!"

Sparky smiled at her. "Since you admit you're scared, Bandit, I'll come with you."

--

Bandit and Sparky walked down the main hallway together, watching the experiments dehydrating each other, one by one, until only Sandy was left.

"Good luck," he said with a sigh, climbing into the dehydration machine.

Bandit smiled at him. "Thanks." She pushed the button, and a little blue ball with the number "625" on it rolled out. She put it inside the big experiment computer.

"Six hundred twenty-four experiments contained," the computer beeped.

Sparky picked it up and flew into the air. "That's everyone." He held his other hand out for Bandit to take. "C'mon."

"Wait… just in case we get outta there alive, I'm bringing some… um… important stuff." Sparky followed her into the bedchamber, where she scooped up a handful of photos from her beside table.

He stared. Every one of them was of Thief. Thief smiling, Thief frowning—there was even one with Thief circled in red pen with the words "da booshibu" above his head!

"Don't ask," growled Bandit.

Sparky nodded. "Let's go."

She took his hand, and off they flew.

--

Bandit telling Sparky which ways to fly, they arrived at the Inter-Galactic Police Station on Kweltikwan. "Look, there's Jumba!" she cried, and indeed there he was.

A guard was circling him. "Don't try to fool us, Jookiba," he snapped. "We know what you've been doing."

"I… I _have_ been… experimenting," Jumba admitted, "but am not making things that are… _alive_."

The guard laughed. "Of _course_ you weren't making living _things_… you just made _one_, right? Oh, Jumba"—he paused to grin maliciously—"you always were so clever."

"What are you going to do to me?" Jumba asked nervously.

"Oh, don't worry," said the guard. "We won't hurt you… much."

Jumba flinched.

"The Grand Council Woman of the United Galactic Federation has ordered us to take you to planet Turo," the guard explained. "Then there will be a trial to see if your little experiment—your little _mistake_—can be forgiven."

Sparky gasped. "Malary called us mistakes too."

Bandit nodded. "Yeah…"

"What happened to Malary, anyway?" asked Sparky.

"Jumba divorced her after an incident with Experiment 3-5-5," Bandit explained. "3-5-5 made then swap bodies for a whole month and they learned a lot—_too_ much—about each other."

They turned back to the guard. He laughed at Jumba and pulled out a gun. "Now follow me."

"What—what will happen to 6-2-6?" asked Jumba.

"He'll be _destroyed_," whispered the guard, grinning. "Good thing you didn't make more than one. Then you'd have to be parted with _two_ beloved mistakes." He laughed, and pushed Jumba into the building.

"Chumba," said Bandit sarcastically, which meant, "Great."

"At least he only knows about Stitch," said Sparky, "and not all 625 of us."

"But Jumba's gonna be taken to planet Turo!" Bandit wailed. "How're we gonna follow him now?"

Sparky sighed. He grabbed her hand and flew up to the door that Jumba and the guard had entered. "Hmm… locked." He studied it carefully, and then took another look at Bandit.

She was crying. "Oh, Sparky, what will we do?"

He hugged her. "Hold on tight, Bandit."

"Why—" Her reply was cut short by her own scream, as Sparky charged headfirst into the solid wall. But when Bandit opened her eyes, they weren't in the hospital—they were inside the police station, completely unharmed!

Sparky brushed some dirt off his tail. "If we hurry, we can probably follow Jumba all the way to Turo!"

"How… how did you do _that_?" asked Bandit.

Sparky shrugged. "I turned us into electricity. Nothing amazing."

"Yeah, it is!" cried Bandit, in awe. "It's _awesome_."

Sparky smiled modestly. "Thanks."

Sparky and Bandit ran down the hallway to a large room housing several blue police cruisers. They spotted the guard pushing Jumba into one of them.

"There's Jumba!" whispered Bandit. "But how're we gonna sneak inside the ship…?"

Sparky grabbed her arm and flew into the trunk of the cruiser without opening the lid. "I can turn into electricity, remember?"

Bandit smiled. "Good Sparky!"

And they rode in the trunk all the way to planet Turo.

--

As the guard dragged Jumba out of the cruiser, Sparky turned him and Bandit into electricity once again, and they followed their creator unnoticed. The guard led him into a small room and stuffed his arms into a pair of handcuffs.

"Where are we being?" asked Jumba.

"Now you just stay here," the guard warned him, ignoring Jumba's question. "Your trial is in a few hours, and the rules won't let me put you in a prison cell before your trial… so you can just _stay here_, that sound good?"

Not waiting for an answer, he slammed the door shut, leaving Jumba in pitch blackness.

Sparky turned him and Bandit back to normal, and he lit up their surroundings with his gentle glow. "Hi, Jumba."

Jumba gasped. "2-2-1!"

Sparky nodded and held out the experiment computer. "Here you go."

"You came all the way to Turo to give Jumba this?" asked Jumba.

He blushed. "Bandit helped."

Bandit shook her head. "Nah, you did everything, Sparks."

Jumba fumbled with the experiment container. "Oh, where is 6-2-6?"

"His name," Bandit told him, "is Stitch."

"Stitch?" asked Jumba.

"Lemme guess—you think it's a dumb name too?" asked Bandit hopefully. "Sparky made it up."

"No, is genius name." Jumba pushed a button and Stitch's pod rolled out. "Stitch… my favorite experiment."

Sparky stared at him. _Stitch_ was Jumba's favorite?

"Oh, Sparky, you are my _second_ favorite experiment," Jumba added hastily. "Bandit…"

Bandit held up her hand. "I don't care." She shrugged.

Sparky looked at the ground. He felt really hurt… _second-best_. To his creator he was only next-to-best, after all of his adventures. Stitch, the newest experiment, had experienced close to nothing… and he was _first-best_! Sparky growled. He could never forgive Stitch for this, the little traitor. But he still couldn't believe that after everything he'd done, after everything he'd gone through, he had still only come in second.

Bandit put her hand on his shoulder and he looked up. "I… I can break you out of here," Sparky told Jumba.

Jumba shook his head. "No. Get in the container. Jumba needs to face the Grand Council Woman… or else all of you will be in danger."

Sparky, not exactly eager to stay with someone who thought he was second-best, shrugged.

But Bandit was crying again. "Will you be okay, Jumba?"

"Yes, Bandit," Jumba replied. He smiled. "What is worst that could happen?"

Bandit turned to Sparky and threw herself on top of him. "Oh, Sparky!"

Jumba chuckled. "Is Sparky being your booshibu?"

Bandit let go of Sparky and took a good look at him. "No," she said slowly, "he's not. My booshibu is Thief, and Sparky's is Electra. I know it seems like we're booshibus, but there's a kind of friend that's… closer that a booshibu, just not romantic. That's what's up with Sparky and me."

Sparky smiled at her. "Bye-bye, Bandit."

She gave him another squeeze. "Does being dehydrated hurt?"

He laughed. "Naga! Of _course_ not!"

"Will you go first anyway?" asked Bandit cautiously, staring at Stitch's pod.

Sparky nodded and climbed into the dehydrating machine. He waved to them. "Good-bye."

The last thing Sparky saw was Bandit's smiling face. Then he was gone.


	12. Chapter Eleven: What on Earth?

Chapter Eleven: What on Earth…?

That pod was cramped. _Really_ cramped. And he was like that for… for _years_. But, after a long, _long_ while, he found he could move again. Cackling in happiness, Sparky jumped out the window and flew into the night sky. He then looked back at the creatures who had freed him.

One of them was like no one Sparky had ever seen. She had light brown skin and black fur on top of her head that hung down to her waist. She was wearing a red dress with white leaves on it and blue sandals.

And the other creature was Stitch.

Sparky smiled back at them, before remembering that he was supposed to be mad at Stitch. _Second-best._ He scowled and flew away.

--

After flying for a few minutes, Sparky suddenly realized he had no idea where he was or where he was going. He stopped and looked around him. There were palm trees everywhere, and the ground was covered in fresh, green grass.

He was on Earth.

But Sparky had never heard of Earth, and still had no idea where he was. "Chuta, where _am_ I?"

He flew around, not knowing where to go. He ended up directly outside a house. There was a tent outside, and a bug electrocuter on the porch. Suddenly, he heard a noise… someone was coming!

Sparky hid behind a tree. He peeked out from behind it see who had come—it was Stitch and the other girl! The ones that had freed him!

Four screaming creatures came out of the tent… probably the same species as Stitch's new friend, but they had different clothes and fur on their heads. One girl, perhaps their leader, had red fur and big round things on her eyes. They talked together for a while, and from what Sparky could hear, it sounded like the girl's name was "Lilo," and she and Stitch were looking for… him.

After a bit, the four girls went back into the tent and Lilo and Stitch went home. Sparky came out from behind the tree and flew away.

--

Sparky woke up. He was lying in the middle of the forest, where he'd been sleeping the night before. He hated this new, strange place, and he had a million questions. Where was Jumba? Bandit? Electra? Where was _he_, and why had Stitch activated him, and no one else? Who was Lilo, and why was she looking for him? _Where was he?_

Bored, Sparky flew into a building. The sign (which said "Welcome to the Birds of Paradise Hotel") was full of unrecognizable signs, and Sparky had no idea what it said. People screamed and ran away from the hotel as he flew around. He missed Electra and Bandit. No one on this planet understood him.… He turned around and gasped—Lilo and Stitch were following him!

Trying to shake them off, Sparky flew outside where a few tables were set up. Above them was a decorative maze of bamboo sticks. Flying onto one, Sparky looked down on the experiment and the girl. Stitch jumped up next to Sparky.

Sparky was in no mood for games. "Meega nala queesta!" he cried. Electricity ran through the bamboo sticks, shocking Stitch and making him fall to the ground.

Sparky looked at Stitch and winced. That looked rather painful. "Soka," he muttered.

Before Sparky could realize what was going on, Stitch pulled on a rope and suddenly he was falling to the ground, caught in a vase that Lilo was holding. "Got 'em!" she cried.

Sparky growled.

--

"Got ya, little troublemaker," said Lilo. She and Stitch had taken Sparky home and now he sat in the vase in Lilo's bedroom.

Stitch flicked his ears down and back up again. Bored, Sparky did the same. Stitch pulled out his extra arms. So did Sparky. Stitch started to pick his nose with his tongue. Sparky smiled: a game! He began to pick his nose as well.

"Cousin!" cried Stitch, wrapping his arms around Sparky's container. He looked at Sparky. "Cousin looks… familiar?"

"Meega Sparky," said the experiment in the vase, "remember me?"

Stitch's face showed confusion, but slowly he began to remember. "Ih!" he cried. "Sparky ohana."

"Ohana?"

"Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten."

"Family," Sparky repeated. He looked at Stitch and then remembered. _Second-best._ Jumba's words hurt Sparky, still ringing in his head.

"Achi-babas?" offered Stitch, the Kweltikwan word for "friends."

_Second-best. Second-best. Second-best._ Sparky turned away.

The rest of the day Sparky sat curled up in his container, occasionally getting visits from Lilo or Stitch, Stitch offering again to be "achi-babas." Somehow Sparky couldn't just put his past behind him, he couldn't forget what his creator thought of him. _It's not Stitch's fault,_ he constantly reminded himself. But no, it was Stitch's fault, he'd captured his cousin and locked him up, away from his friends, his booshibu…

_Second-best._


	13. Chapter Twelve: The Ecto Manuever

_NOTE: Ecto-Manuever belongs to a friend of mine. I take no credit for him whatsoever._

Chapter Twelve: The Ecto-Manuever  
One year later…

"Hey, Gantu, watcha doing?" Experiment 625 (known as "Sandy" to Bandit and Sparky) walked into the main room of Gantu's spaceship.

"Leave me alone, 625, I'm making an experiment," muttered the whale-like, 20-foot-tall Gantu.

"_What?_" cried 625. "You can't make experiments! Only Jumba can do that. Plus, you probably don't have the talent. You can't even catch Jumba's little monsters." He laughed.

"With this new experiment, I _will_ be able to catch those pesky abominations," said Gantu. "I'm designing Ecto-Manuever, the one who will finish off that trog 6-2-6."

"Bad idea, Fish-Face," said 625. "You know my cousin Stitch is indestructible. Nothing can defeat him."

Gantu smiled. "Nothing _can_ destroy him now. But Ecto _will_. 6-2-6 will be nothing more."

--

Meanwhile, Lilo and Stitch were surfing at the beach. Sparky was bored inside the lighthouse he lived in. He wasn't aloud to make it shine during the day. He looked out the window at Stitch, hating him.

"Some day you'll find your weakness, Mr. Perfect," Sparky muttered.

"'Mr. Perfect'? Who's that?"

Sparky turned to see his best friend Experiment 149 in the doorway. "Aloha, Bandit."

She smiled. "You're the only one that still calls me Bandit, ya know. Everyone else has switched to calling me 'Bonnie.'"

"I like Bandit," said Sparky.

"_I_ like Bonnie," Bonnie replied.

"What's wrong with Bandit?"

"What's wrong with Bonnie?"

"Nothing. I like Bonnie for your name too, just I like Bandit better. But, seriously, what's wrong with Bandit?"

"Aw, never mind that. Who's Mr. Perfect?"

"Stitch."

"Stitch? Why?"

"He's Jumba's favorite."

"What makes you say that?"

Bonnie didn't remember that fateful time the closet. _Of course, it doesn't matter to her. She wasn't second-best to her creator,_ Sparky thought miserably. Jumba probably even liked Bonnie more than him. He didn't remind her.

"Sparky? You okay?"

"Uh-huh. It's nothing."

--

"So, does this Ecto-Manuever have any weaknesses…?" 625 asked Gantu.

"He can only be destroyed by an enormous amount of electricity," Gantu replied.

"Electricity? Ya know that yellow experiment at the lighthouse is gonna kick Ecto's patookie."

"Exactly. That's why I've devised a little plan…" Gantu pressed a button on the ship's controls and the door to a secret room entered. Inside were Song, Maid, and a lot of other experiments, stuck inside containers.

"Angel!" cried 625, smiling at Song. "When did she get here?"

Song, or Angel, growled at him. _What happened to the name "Song"?_ she wondered. _How come I'm "Angel" all of a sudden?_ Then she remembered that Stitch had called her "Angel" and smiled.

"I'm going to unleash them on Experiment 2-2-1," Gantu said to 625, "and then there will be no one to stop me."

He walked over to Angel's container. "All right, 6-2-4—"

"Her name is Angel," interrupted 625.

"Fine, Angel… I'll make you a deal. You sing your little song for all your cousins to hear, and I'll set you free."

Angel looked up at Gantu. On one hand, she really wanted to be free, free from pesky 625, free to find her booshibu Stitch again and tell him she was sorry for everything. On the other, she had no idea what evil plan Gantu had in mind.

"Well, Hot-Cakes? What'll it be?" asked 625.

Angel answered him in song. "_Akudit emuti alan ot agan. Atum on atagi oteemihc atooca._"

625 and Gantu looked at each other. "Did it work?" asked 625.

"Let meega out!" cried Angel.

"All right." Gantu pushed a button near her container. The container pulled away from Angel and she ran off before they could realize that she'd sung her song backwards.

--

Lilo opened the door to find Angel was standing in the doorway. Lilo smiled. "Aloha, Angel!"

"Lilo! Gantu is—" Angel stopped. She'd spotted Stitch standing behind Lilo.

"Booshibu!" cried Stitch. He and Angel ran at each other and hugged.

"I'm sorry," whispered Angel.

"Isa okataka," said Stitch, "Stitch forgives you."

"Wait, what were you saying about Gantu…?" Lilo asked, eyeing the couple carefully.

"Oh!" Angel said something to Stitch in rapid Kweltikwan. "Smish?"

Stitch nodded. "Ih!" He turned to Lilo. "Gantu ask Angel to sing song to cousins. Angel sing backwards!"

Lilo frowned. "I wonder what he's trying to do."

--

Ecto-Manuever looked like Stitch, only he was covered in bright red markings. He growled and ran around in circles inside his container.

625 took a bite of his sandwich. "So, what's his number?"

Gantu looked at Ecto. "Experiment 7-4-3," he said. "The Grand Council Woman told me I was the seven hundred forty-third captain of the Galactic Armada…"

"…and the guy who's captain now is the seven hundred forty-fourth!" said 625, laughing.

Gantu scowled. So did 743.

"So, when is he gonna be unleashed on my cuz?" asked 625.

"Right now," said Gantu. He pushed a button and Ecto's container opened. The experiment hopped to the floor. He sniffed the air and shot a blast of bright green ecto at the other experiments in their containers.

"No!" cried Gantu, but it was too late. Experiment 010 (known as "Maid" to the other experiments and "Felix" to Lilo) was already free. "Those containers cost a fortune!"

Felix sniffed the air, copying his cousin Ecto. "Dirty!" he declared. "Dirty, dirty!"

"Uh oh, this guy's gonna get on my nerves," said 625.

"0-1-0 is a highly advanced experiment, with the power to kill," said Gantu. "Maybe it's not so bad he escaped." He pressed a button on the experiment computer and a picture of Sparky appeared. "0-1-0, go to the lighthouse and destroy—sterilize—the little trog 2-2-1!" he ordered.

Felix looked confused. "2-2-1 is dirty?"

"Yes," said Gantu, "very dirty."

"Dirty, dirty!" cried Felix, and ran to the elevator and out the door.

Ecto growled.

"Don't worry, Ecto, I have a job for you too," said Gantu. He scrolled through the computer until he got to Stitch. "6-2-6. You think you take him?"

"Ih!" cried Ecto, and he ran out the door as well.

--

Felix knew he was supposed to track down the dirty Experiment 211. Or was it 221? Or 226? Or 621? He couldn't even remember where he was supposed to go. He just knew that the experiment needed cleaning. Lilo would know where the dirty experiment lived. He decided to go to her house. She'd figure this mystery out for him.

Lilo opened the door. "Felix," she said unhappily. "Um, hi." She'd sent Felix to Gantu after he'd been driving her and Stitch up the wall.

Felix smiled. "Hi!" He tried to find the right words. "Gantu said Felix clean experiment—dirty—2-2-1, maybe—Felix sterilize—where is dirty? Felix need clean!"

Lilo had no idea what Felix was saying but she caught the words "Gantu," "221," and "clean." Gantu wanted Sparky cleaned? Sterilized? Of course! Gantu didn't want him cleaned, he wanted Sparky _killed_!

"Angel! Stitch!" Lilo called upstairs. "C'mere!"

Angel and Stitch walked downstairs holding hands. Angel giggled. "What is it?"

"Angel, this is serious," said Lilo. "Gantu told Felix to kill Sparky!"

Stitch gasped. "Cousin!"

"Where is dirty—Sparky?" asked Felix. "Felix go clean him."

"You're not going anywhere until we sort this out," said Lilo. "Gantu's got something up his sleeve, and I want to know what."

Felix tried to remember. "Ecto!" he cried. "Cousin. New experiment Gantu made."

"Gantu made an experiment?" asked Lilo.

Felix nodded. "Evil experiment! Broke my container. Dirty."

Angel growled. "Gantu evil."

"Stitch catch cousin," said Stitch, "and kick Gantu's patookie!"

"Everyone has good in them somewhere," Lilo reminded them. "Besides this… this Ecto"—she glanced at Felix, who nodded—"he's ohana, remember?"

"Ih," said Stitch.

"Ecto super-powerful… and dirty," Felix told them. "So dirty that—"

"We know he's dirty," said Lilo quickly. "But what can he _do_?"

"Shoot lights at Felix and break container," said Sparky, "and supposed to kill…"

"Who?" demanded Lilo. "Who is Ecto supposed to kill?"

"6-2-6?" Felix shrugged and ran out the door, leaving Lilo and Angel standing open-mouthed.

"Gantu wants kill meega," Stitch said slowly. He growled. "Stitch can take Ecto easy!"

"Careful, Stitch," said Lilo. "I'm not gonna let him hurt you!"

Angel clung to Stitch's arm. "Booshibu, don't go looking for Ecto. He'll kill you."

"Naga!" cried Stitch angrily. "Ecto nala queesta!"

But Lilo and Angel refused to let him go.

--

Lilo felt as if she'd just fallen asleep when she was roused by Angel. Indeed, when Lilo looked at the clock it was only midnight.

She was about to complain loudly to Angel that she needed more sleep when she noticed the experiment was in hysterics. "What is it, Angel?" Lilo asked with a sigh.

"Lilo, Stitch is… gone!" Angel cried.

Lilo's eyes grew wide. "He's gone after Ecto."


	14. Chapter Thirteen: Nightmares and Lessons

Chapter Thirteen: Nightmares and Lessons

_Sparky was back in time years and years ago, back when he'd first been created. He was a new experiment, and so far only 223 experiments were in existence. The incident with Malary was all a dream, a distant memory…_Anyone?_"_has_ no family."_my_ booshibu!" Sparky angrily pushed Stitch out of the way. He tried to hug Electra, but her powers shocked him. "Ow!"_

He was walking down the main hallway of Jumba's lab. It was deserted. He looked around, worried. Where were all of his cousins?

"Bandit?" he called, his voice echoing around the chamber. "Naughty? Electra?

No one answered. Sparky's head drooped. Where had everyone gone, and why had they left him behind?

He heard a faint growling coming from the next room. Sparky pulled his head up and looked around, scared. The growling grew louder. Sparky shivered. It wasn't a friendly growl.

Experiment 626, with his extra arms, antennae, and spikes pulled out, ran into the hallway. What was he doing here, ruining everything? 626 hadn't even been created yet, he didn't exist… yet Sparky recognized him all the same.

626 looked very fierce. Fierce and mad. His eyes were glowing red and he snarled upon seeing his cousin.

"Hi," said Sparky nervously. "It's me, Sparky, your cousin…?"

"Naga." 626 sniffed his cousin. "You not cousin. You smell like trouble."

"No, I'm your cousin, definitely," said Sparky quickly. "Ohana, remember?"

626 thingyed his head. "Ohana?" he repeated. "What is ohana?"

"Ohana means family," Sparky explained, choosing to leave out that it was 626 who had told him what ohana was in the first place. "Family means no one gets left behind… or forgotten."

626 looked around the deserted lab. "Cousins left you behind," he pointed out.

Sparky tried to keep tears out of his eyes. That's what he'd been afraid of. "They left you behind too," said Sparky quietly.

626 shook his head. "Meega stay behind on purpose. 6-2-6

"6-2-6?" Sparky realized that the experiment didn't have a name. Or did he? "Your name is… Stitch," said Sparky, remembering.

626 was confused. He didn't seem to remember. "My name… Stitch?"

"Yes, Stitch. I named you. I…" Sparky took a deep breath. "I… I loved you. You're my ohana, whether Jumba thinks you're better than me or not."

"Better than you?"

"He said I was second-best."

"Who cares? That was years and years ago." The two experiments turned around. Electra was standing in the doorway. "In this reality I suppose it's in the future, but in real life it happened a long time ago."

"Booshibu," whispered Sparky. "You're back!"

She smiled. "I missed you, Stitch."

Sparky's eyes grew wide. "What the…?"

Stitch smiled at Electra, a smile very different from his look of malice a minute before. "Aloha, Electra!"

"Outta my way, Mr. Perfect! She's

She glanced at his burnt hand. "Watch it or I'll hurt you even more—and not just physically either."

His eyes watered. Whether it was from the pain or the fact Electra seemed to prefer Stitch he didn't know. "Booshibu, what's wrong?"

"I don't like people who hold grudges," she said angrily. "You really should forgive Stitch, you know."

Stitch growled. "Then Stitch kill you."

Sparky shuddered.

"Sparky, wake up!"

Sparky turned. The voice sounded far away.

"Wake up, wake up!"

"Bandit?" asked Sparky hopefully.

"Wake up, cousin, wake up!"

He wanted to. Oh, how he wanted to leave this horrible reality where Electra loved Stitch and his life was upside down…

"Sparky, wake up!"

Oh, how Sparky wished things were that simple. He'd wake up and in the morning all his problems would be gone. But he didn't know how.

"Wake up, Sparky, please wake up!"

--

Sparky was curled up in the middle of his lighthouse while the rain raged outside the window. Standing over him were another experiment—Song, was it?—and Lilo, Stitch's friend. Sparky moaned. He'd woken up, but his problems were realer than ever.

"I'm awake," Sparky said. "What do you want?"

Lilo glanced at the pink experiment. "Sparky this is—"

"Song, I know," Sparky interrupted. "Can I go back to sleep now?"

"Meega Angel," said Angel. "And naga."

Sparky groaned.

"Sparky, please, Gantu made an experiment that's gonna kill Stitch if you don't help. Gantu wanted you killed, so you must be the only one who can stop Ecto."

_This new experiment—Ecto—is gonna kill Stitch? Sounds like a good plan,_ thought Sparky. "Do I have to help?" he asked.

"Stitch will die!" cried Angel.

And then Sparky remembered the dream-Electra's words: _"I don't like people who hold grudges. You really should forgive Stitch, you know."_

He should forgive him. What Jumba had said in the closet had come and gone. Sparky looked from Lilo to Angel and imagined how they would feel if Stitch were gone… and how _he_ would feel. After all, Sparky had given Stitch his name, hadn't he? Deep down, he knew he'd feel miserable if the little blue nuisance died.

"All right," said Sparky, "I'll go."


	15. Chapter Fourteen: The Battle

Chapter Fourteen: The Battle

Sparky turned Lilo and Angel into electricity and took them to Gantu's ship. He changed them back once they were on top of it and went inside. A moment later a hatch flew open and the girls hopped into the path of danger.

It was dark in the room they'd landed in. Angel clung to Lilo's arm. "I don't like the dark," the experiment moaned.

Sparky looked at them and lit up the room with a faint glow. He put a finger to his lips. "Shush."

"Sorry," whispered Angel.

Sparky put his ear to the door on the other side of the room. He heard noises. "I think they're in here." He took a deep breath and shocked the door. It flew open with a loud clang.

Lilo winced. "They're gonna hear us!"

Angel moaned again. "Oh, I don't like this at all…"

The threesome peered into the room. All six of Stitch's limbs had a metal chain around them binding him to the wall. Gantu was standing next to the experiment, talking to him in a pleased sort of way. Ecto was walking around in circles, impatiently waiting to destroy Stitch once and for all. Only 625 seemed to notice them.

"Angel!" he cried, waving his arms in the air.

Ecto, Gantu, and Stitch turned their heads.

"Um, hi," said Angel weakly.

Sparky growled. "Let go of my cousin!"

Stitch thingyed his head. "Sparky? Help!"

"And you thought you could take Ecto-Manuever down single-handed," Lilo said mockingly.

Stitch's ears drooped. "Stitch made mistake."

"Guys, this is no time to fight," pleaded Angel.

Electricity ran through Sparky's antennae. "Sure it is… just not with each other. I'm sure Ecto wouldn't mind a good fight, eh, cousin?"

Ecto growled. "Ih!"

"2-2-1?" cried Gantu. "But… why aren't you destroyed?"

"Felix came to our house asking where Sparky was, and we figured out your little plan," said Lilo. "If Stitch can't take down Ecto-Manuever, then Sparky can!"

"Hey, Gantu, remember? 'He can only be destroyed by an enormous amount of electricity,'" said 625. "Your Ecto is going down."

"Naga! Nini nala queesta!" cried Ecto, which was his language for "you can't take me down."

Sparky ran at Ecto, but the new experiment was too fast for him. Ecto shot a blast of power at Sparky, sending him flying across the room.

Angel shrieked. "Sparky, be careful!"

Sparky dodged the next blast of ecto. He shuddered as Ecto looked him in the eye. Ecto's eyes were glowing red, and something about them seemed evil. They crept Sparky out.

"No more Mr. Nice Guy," he muttered. Running at Ecto as fast as he could, he shot a blast of electricity right at his cousin's head.

Ecto jumped aside. He laughed cruelly and jumped right onto Stitch's bindings. "You hit me, you hit him."

Sparky looked from Ecto to Stitch and back again. Ecto needed to be destroyed. And Stitch, the annoying, horrible, thing that had made Sparky second-best was the only thing standing in the way. "Okay," Sparky told Ecto.

"You're not going to… to…" Angel whispered the last few words, horrified, "…kill Stitch just to get to Ecto, are you?"

"It's the only way."

In the silence that followed, you could have heard a pin drop.

"There must be another way," said Lilo softly. She looked at Stitch. "Don't worry, Stitch, Sparky's not gonna do anything to you…"

Sparky shook his head. "No. There's no other way. Ecto could kill everyone on the island. But if both were dead, no harm would come to anyone."

"Except Stitch," 625 reminded them.

Stitch looked at everyone around him. Lilo, his sister. Angel, his booshibu. 625, his cousin. Gantu, his enemy. Ecto, the one who wanted him killed. And Sparky, the one who wanted Ecto dead, and was willing to destroy Stitch to get to him. Stitch's ears drooped. He knew what he had to do.

"Okay. Sparky wins."

Ecto's eyes grew wide. "You going to kill… me _and_ 6-2-6?"

Sparky didn't reply. His antennae crackled with electricity. There was a bright flash of light, and then all was still.

Rubbing their eyes frantically, Lilo and Angel cried out, "No!"

"Booshibu," said Angel.

"Stitch," whispered Lilo, "is gone?"

Sparky looked at them sadly. "It had to be done."

Slowly everyone's eyes cleared, and they gasped at what they saw. Stitch was hanging motionless from his chains. But Ecto was nowhere to be seen.

"You monster!" cried Angel, tears streaming down her face. "You killed Stitch and missed Ecto! Now he's gone, and he can never come back!"

_Monster._ Sparky remembered. One of the first things Bandit had ever said to him was _"He's a monster! He should be destroyed!"_ That still hurt, even now, when he was Bandit's friend. And according to Angel, he was a monster once again. He looked up at the ceiling.

Suddenly Sparky laughed out loud. "Of course!"

Lilo glared at him. "It's not funny!"

"No, you don't get it. Ecto's one weakness is electricity. _Stitch's_ weakness is water. My powers didn't affect him at all!"

The girls gasped, hopeful. "So he's gonna be okay?" asked Lilo.

Sparky nodded. "He just passed out."

"But where's Ecto?" asked 625.

Sparky pointed upwards and everyone saw Ecto stuck to the ceiling. Sparky ran one of his antenna along the wall and Ecto fell to the floor with a crash.

Stitch's eyes flickered. "Loud… noise…"

Lilo and Angel ran up to Stitch. "Booshibu, are you okay?" Angel asked.

Stitch nodded slowly. "Ih."

"It's a good thing we were here to save you," she went on. "Otherwise you'd be toast, thanks to Ecto here."

Sparky glared at her. "'We'? What did _you_ do?" Though she was Stitch's booshibu, Sparky still liked Angel no more than the time when she'd been the self-absorbed Song. Trying to ignore his urge to punch Angel in the gut, Sparky walked over to Ecto and inspected him carefully.

"Is he… dead?" Gantu asked.

Sparky sighed. "No. I don't think so." He looked at Ecto's face, the red eyes that had scared him so much now closed. "I hope not."

"You hope not?" asked Lilo.

"He may have tried to kill Stitch, but he's still ohana," said Sparky. He threw a glance Gantu's way. "Gantu made him be evil, but we can fix that. We shouldn't hold grudges against him for something that's already done."


	16. Chapter Fifteen: Booshibu

Chapter Fifteen: Booshibu

A few days after the battle, Sparky was sitting in his lighthouse, bored. Everything seemed to have been fixed, and yet… he still felt like something was wrong. All problems between Stitch and him had been resolved. Ecto-Manuever had been turned to good. Angel had invited herself to live with Lilo and Stitch, where she would stay until Nani said otherwise.

But there was still a big hole in Sparky's heart where Electra had been.

"Sparky?"

Sparky turned around to see Bonnie standing in the doorway. "Hey, Bandit."

She smiled. "Hey, you an' Stitch are okay now, I heard. No more plottin' about killin' Mr. Perfect in your spare time?"

"Yeah, I forgave him. It doesn't matter anymore." Sparky gazed out at the ocean, watching the waves. Electra would have loved Earth so much…

"Sometin' botherin' ya, Sparks?" asked Bonnie, concerned.

"No. I'm fine."

"You sure?"

Something in the way she said it made him confess. "We live on earth now. We're good, and everything's okay. But I still…" And then he uttered the one word he hadn't said in years, the one word he wished so hard he could forget, the one word that was always on his mind. "Electra."

"Ah. This is about your booshibu. I see." Bonnie sighed, and put her hand on Sparky's shoulder. "These things happen. It's time to move on, like you forgave Stitch. You need to forgive Electra for passin' on."

"But that's just it. She didn't die." Sparky looked into Bonnie's eyes. "She's still out there… somewhere. I can feel it. I know she's still alive. And she misses me."

Bonnie didn't know how to break it to him. "Sparks…"

"I don't care if you don't believe me. But I know she's alive. Somewhere. Somehow."

"Sparky, two days after ya left Jumba found Electra's body!"

Sparky stared. "What? No! It can't be… no…" No, this was impossible. Bandit was joking… Electra wasn't dead, she couldn't be…

"There. I said it." Bonnie hung her head with a heavy sigh. "Sorry, Sparks," she whispered, "but it's true. I had to tell ya."

Horrified, eyes wide, Sparky curled his hands into fists and released them again. He bowed his own head as tears welled up in his eyes. No. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?" he asked quietly.

"I didn't want to hurt you."

There was a long, awkward pause. Sparky was silently sobbing, turned away from Bonnie, hoping she wouldn't notice. She did.

In an attempt to cheer her friend up, she supplied, "Hey, Jumba still has the files I made for 'er. We coul' remake Electra."

"No. It would look like her and have her powers, but it wouldn't be her. It's not the same."

"Jumba could make you pups."

"What?!"

"Pups. Ya know, like babies. Experiments can't reproduce, but Jumba can make pups for two experiments in love. Stitch and Angel did it. Sandy says he's gonna, as soon as he finds a girlfriend, that is. We coul' get Jumba ta make you a pup in Electra's memory."

"Electra and I… have babies…?"

"Why not?" Bonnie winked.

"But… I mean… Electra's gone. I don't want to force motherless experiments into the world, especially ones who knew they could have had one. That's cruel."

"Well, another experiment coul' help ya raise them. Like a stepmother."

"But who?"

Bonnie leaned closer. "Who do ya think?" And she pulled him into a kiss.

Sparky closed his eyes. This was wonderful… but no, he loved Electra… but yes, kissing her had never been like this, like kissing his Bandit.… The kiss seemed to last for hours, but after a minute or so Bonnie pulled away. Sparky blinked. He didn't understand his feelings at all; these emotions were all so new. Bonnie blushed, smiling, pleased.

"I… I love Electra," said Sparky, confused, "but I love you too. How can I love you both?"

Bonnie shrugged. "You moved on. Anyways, I think the only reason ya loved Electra in the first place was 'cause I made her powers so similar to yours. Ya have almost the same DNA as her, Sparks, so that's why you was attracted at first sight."

"You mean… I don't love her?"

"Well, you do, but not really. Your DNA loves her DNA. When we were watchin' you two when Electra was first made, everyone agreed ya fell in love a little too fast."

"But you and I… we've known each other for years…"

"Yep."

"…and we don't have the same DNA at all…"

"Nope."

"…and you just kissed me…"

"Yep."

"…so does this mean I love you?"

Bonnie shrugged. She threw back her head and let out a loud, clear laugh. "What _is_ love?"

"I have no idea." Soon Sparky was laughing too. The two friends held each other in their arms, laughing, talking, just enjoying each other's company.

"And to think when I first met ya I hated you," Bonnie teased, smirking. "I moved on."

"You're obsessed with moving on, Bonnie." Sparky rolled his eyes.

"But you move on too! You see? Ya just called me Bonnie."

"I… guess I did."

"But I don't wanna be called Bonnie, _or_ Bandit. Not even 149."

"Then what?"

"I want you to call me booshibu."

"Oh. That I can do."


	17. Epilogue

Epilogue

"Agent Spectra! Agent Spectra! Come in, Agent Spectra!" Plug, secret agent for the E.S.A. (Experiment Spy Alliance), snuck closer to his target. He inched along the wall, feeling for bombs along the way. "Come in, Agent Spectra!"

"Roger, Agent Spectra is here," rallied Spectra, Plug's sister and crime-fighting partner. "Agent Plug, do you read?"

"Agent Plug reads."

"Oh, good! Do you have the target in sight?"

"Yes, I believe I do. It's kind of large, and a purplish-pink, right?"

"Yes, it is! You've found it!"

"I'm going to try to get closer in…"

"Oh, please be careful, Agent Plug…" Spectra clasped her hands together in worry at the dangerous mission before her brother.

"I will, Agent Spectra, don't worry." Plug smiled gallantly and moved in closer… closer… his hand crept along… he found it. Grasping their long-sought-out target, Plug scampered back to his sister, cackling softly.

Spectra gasped in delight upon seeing the prize her brother had brought back. "Oh! It's wonderful; thank you!"

"What did I always tell you? I said we'd find it in the end," Plug boasted happily, "and we did! So there! In your face! I was right and you weren't."

She stuck out her tongue at him. "Bragger."

He just copied her rude gesture right back at her. "So, you wanna, you know, do the honors?"

"Okay," Spectra said quietly, uncertainly. This was the big moment they'd been planning for weeks, and she knew she'd somehow mess it up. She took a deep breath, telling herself that she could do it. She raised her arm and, in one swift movement, pulled off the lid of their target.…

"Spectra, get your hand out of the cookie jar!" her father, Sparky, called, zooming into the room.

The pups pouted. "Aw, _dad_!" cried Plug.

"Playing secret agents again?" asked Sparky with a wink.

"We're not _'playing,'_" said Spectra huffily, "we're really secret agents. You'll see. Just you wait; someday the E.S.A. is gonna come take us away on a mission and you'll have to believe it."

Sparky laughed and ruffled his daughter's hair. "Yeah, well, I'll believe it when it happens."

"What's all ta ruckus in here?" Bonnie, the pups' stepmother, sauntered into the kitchen.

"Our little 'secret agents' have found the cookie jar," said Sparky, chuckling fondly at them.

"Can we have a cookie before dinner? Just one?" begged Plug. Spectra chimed in for the "_Pleeeeaaaasssseeeeeee?_"

"Well…" Bonnie and Sparky exchanged a glance. "All right, but jus' this once," she told them.

Spectra and Plug smirked happily, grabbing a cookie each and running off on another secret agent mission for the E.S.A. This left Bonnie and Sparky together in the kitchen, alone.

"Bless those li'l buggers," said Bonnie softly, watching them run off into one of the other rooms of the lighthouse.

"Yeah," Sparky agreed. "It's actually kind of nice having pups… most of the time."

"Tell me about it." She smiled, wrapping her arms around him playfully. "Electra would be so proud of you."

"I know." He smiled back, and then frowned, adding, "Do you think Jumba still likes me second-best?"

Bonnie threw back her head and laughed. "Sparky, you can't possibly still care about that, after all these years! Let it go. Asides," she said, her grip tightening, "ever since Clyde told me he had his eye on that 'speriment at the flower stand, you've always been first-best to me. And you always will be…"

Sparky laughed with her. It was exactly what he had wanted to hear. "Yes. I know." He turned around to face her, his lips meeting hers in a kiss.

But their romantic moment was short-lived, as a crash sounded throughout the lighthouse, and Spectra cried, "Daa_aad_, Plug knocked over the giant light maker thing!"

"Did not!" cried Plug indignantly.

"Did too!"

"Did _not_!"

"Did _too_!"

Sparky and Bonnie looked at each other for a moment. "Shall we see what those li'l rascals are up to?" she asked.

Sparky nodded. "Oh, and remind me, I've got to call Naughty. He wants to get together and talk this afternoon… I haven't seen him much lately, and he wants to catch up with me."

Bonnie nodded. "You got it, Sparks."

Suddenly a grin creased Sparky's face. "Hey, race you to the top!"

"But we're parents now; we're supposta be setting a positive example or summat," Bonnie said. But her serious expression cracked, and she finally gave in. "All right, jus' this once. But you be wary, Sparks. Just acause you're my booshibu, doesn't mean I'm gonna letcha win!"

Sparky smirked at her playfully. "We'll see about that, Bandit." And he zoomed off into the house, his booshibu not far behind.

"Did _not_!"

"Did _too_!"

"Did _not_!"

Some things never change.

THE END


End file.
